Birds & Beer back on Tour

Earlier in the Summer I had invited James, Gary and Jim on a nostaligic birds watching tour of the pubs of North Norfolk, when I heard this may be the last summer the Coasthopper Bus service may Run. On the 31st August (Nine years after the original tour) James arrives to collect me at 10am. James had volunteered to be our designated driver after deciding against using the bus with our offer of a lift to the start point just too early.

I had a short target list of Pubs to visit, first was the King's Arms in Blakeney, initially this looks a poor choice being on the main street however I knew it backed onto the grazing meadows and onward towards the outer harbour and Morston. With stong heat haze already scoping towards the more distant areas was out of the question, but we soon had a tally on 20 species. With a new pub birding tick in Reed Warbler seen in the adjacent Hawthorn hedge.

Next stop was the Three Swallows at Cley, a pub offering bonus birds in it's title! A large group of hinderines swooped about over the marshes and a Sparrowhawk also flew through.

Moving onto the Dun Cow (the Birds and Beer Mecca) we soon abandoned our plans for lunch, it was just too posh. We stayed long enough to add a few more birds, including Avocet flying towards Cley. In truth it was disappointing with the dry summer and current weather the marshes were dry and heat haze prevailed.

Un-deterred we headed to Sheringham, as much for food as the birds. However the Two Life Boats on the seafront gave us the opportunity to watch the sea and eat. Jim picked out 3 Gannet then a few Sandwich Tern. A flock of Ringed Plover flew east before we decided to leaves the crowds.

The Gunton Arms was out final stop, set on the edge of a deer park it offered the potential of many birds still absent from out pub lists. Sadly this proved an bit of an anticlimax with only a few additional common birds. We finished the day with 42 species a modest total but still a pleasant day spent with friends none the less.